Wednesday, 28 December 2022

LANGA BIZ

FUTURE CAPE TOWN | Thinking about the future of Langa train station

Catherine Luyt on 21/10/2015

“the private and public investment in the Langa Station precinct denotes an appetite for broad, inclusive development within the community”

During a drive through Langa on a weekend afternoon, one notices the bustling centre of the community; the taxi rank surrounded by informal traders, butchers, car-washers and other services. Driving about 1 km further along Washington Street the newly upgraded Langa Station and Langa Junction emerges. Both of these transit nodes have the potential to become the central hub of the community, one a social hub while the other a transit hub. One idea may be to consider incorporating the taxi rank in the future development of Langa Station in order to create better coordination between these two major transport nodes of Langa and surrounds.

Langa, situated some 12 km outside of Cape Town city centre, was established in 1927 as an area designated for Black South Africans to reside in accordance with the 1923 Urban Areas Act. Langa is the oldest of such areas and it was the ground of much resistance to apartheid. Currently Langa is a vibrant community made of 52 000 residents, where the majority is still black South Africans. While much has improved in the neighbourhood, Langa still experiences periods of violence in protest against government service delivery, specifically that of housing and the general living conditions.

A great number of spatial opportunities exist within and around Langa, which is strategically located adjacent to the closed-down Athlone Power Station now identified as a “future high order mixed-use precinct” according to the City of Cape Town. There have been many plans for the immediate future such as high density housing, additional rental accommodation and hostels, public space upgrades and a non-motorised transport route linking Langa to surrounding major roads.

The Langa train station forms part of the Central Line rail service operated by Metrorail Western Cape and is one of the busiest as the Central Line services operate along two routes from Central Cape Town to Langa, and then branching from Langa to various areas in the south-east of the city such as Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha and Belhar. The station is situated on the outskirts of the residential area of Langa and South of Epping industrial area. A future road is being planned just North of the Langa train station which will house the extension of the MyCiti Bus Rapid Transport system and further mixed use development in the area.

In March 2015 the Langa Junction shopping mall opened its doors to Langa residents and the 45 000 daily commuters who use the adjacent Langa station which is conveniently linked to Epping industrial area via an overhead commuter footbridge. Langa Junction is the first convenience shopping centre for Langa and Krsip Properties hope that the centre will become a hub for public transport commuters as Langa Junction complements the upgraded modern Langa Station.

About transit oriented development

Car dependency is an increasing pattern in South African cities and the spatial patterns of the Cape Town region that emerged during the apartheid era continue to exist in the accommodation of low density communities on the fringes of the city who are dependent on public transport.

The concept of Transport Oriented Development (TOD) offers a means to the restructuring of Cape Town’s socio-spatial patterns. This has been absorbed into plans and policies within the province and the country as the 2011 National Development Plan calls for “the internationally accepted principles” of TOD to be employed. The notion behind supporting TOD in Cape Town is to create a more viable and efficient transport system where passengers can live and work in close proximity to trunk routes and therefore lead to increased density along these routes with the correct mix of residential and commercial.

The City of Cape Town is “committed to building an inclusive city where the future of our residents is not defined by where they live, but rather where everyone has the opportunity to unlock and cultivate their full potential” explains Councillor Brett Herron, the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member, in the division of Transport for Cape Town. Transit-oriented development has been emphasises in Cape Town “to ensure that we bring our residents closer to their workplace and that we improve the access to and efficiency of public transport across the city”.

Between formal and informal

Along with the development of the Langa Junction mall, the local government of Cape Town, has requested that an Informal Trading Plan be developed for the Langa station southern area from the station extending to Washington Street. The hopes are to provide a well-managed environment for informal traders to operate and develop their businesses in a manner that ensures a positive relationship with the formal trading sector and the surrounding community. Langa has a vibrant sector of informal trading and the City’s plan to integrate the informal traders into new development within Langa will hopefully further support these traders and protect their business against emerging supermarkets within the area, which serve a different role to the informal trader.

(Read the plan here)

Councillor Sicelo Mxolose explains how this inclusion of informal trading “came at a good time when the community was in dire need for such development. It unlocked the economic potential of our area and has provided some opportunities for small informal business people to own or lease formal structures to conduct their trading”. Councillor Mxolose views the development around Langa Junction in a positive light as it “provided a number of job opportunities for our youth” and will continue to provided further business and trading opportunities to aspiring young entrepreneurs in the community.

What this precinct could become?

Upon first visiting Langa it may seem as though the development of Langa Junction, whose aim is to create a transport and shopping hub within Langa, has not taken into consideration the already entrenched hub of activity which exists around the taxi rank of Langa, 1km away from the train station.

Councillor Johan van der Merwe, a Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Environmental and Spatial Planning for the City of Cape Town, does not “foresee that the two potential hubs could create tension within the community. Each transit stop creates its own economic opportunities and the nature of the formal activity is determined to some extent by the land ownership and available land in the vicinity. The extent of Langa means that it benefits from having two transport interchanges and good accessibility to two different modes”.

Councillor van der Merwe explains how Langa Junction spawned “out of the private sector recognising a transit-oriented retail opportunity, made possible by land owned by a state-owned entity being available for development”. The development, therefore, is not a representation of a bigger plan for Langa but is rather supporting the City’s Transit-Oriented Development agenda and the overdue need to invest in historically disadvantaged areas in and around Cape Town.

The future development of Langa is a bright one as Councillor van der Merwe states that “the City believes that the private and public investment in the Langa Station precinct is positive, and denotes an appetite for broad, inclusive development within the community”.

Read more

Friday, 23 December 2022

2023 Netball World Cup STUFF IN LANGA

Mural unveiled in Langa to mark 1 year countdown until Netball World Cup in CPT

Sara-Jayne Makwala King|

5 months ago

The countdown is officially on for the 2023 Netball World Cup being hosted in the Mother City next year.

Cape Town was announced as the host city in July 2019. It's the first time ever the tournament will be held on African soil.

The City will be rolling out several netball activities leading up to the Netball World Cup to raise awareness about the event.

We are very proud to host this competition and hopefully see the South African national netball team become world champions on home soil.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, Mayor - City of Cape Town

This week, officials including Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and representatives of the Netball World Cup LOC and Netball South Africa attended the unveiling of the first in a series of legacy murals for the tournament.

The 33 metres by 9 metres mural at the Langa Indoor Sports Centre was painted by local artist Skumbuzo Salman who was supported by emerging artist Ayabonga Ntshongwana.

It follows the theme of "Netball", "Women Sport" "Cape Town", "Africa", "healthy lifestyle", "women empowerment" and "hope".

Meanwhile, over R6 million has been spent sprucing up netball facilities in Scottsdene, Ravensmead, Delft, Gugulethu, Sir Lowry's Pass, Strandfontein, Sarepta and Mitchells Plain.

LANGA RAILWAY BUSINESS

City completes R10,5 million upgrade of Langa Station South public space

Future Cape Townon09/05/2016/Comments closed

In March 2016, the City of Cape Town completed an upgrade of the Langa Station South public open at a cost of more than R10.5 million. The project entailed:

construction of new sidewalks and the improvement of existing sidewalks for safe pedestrian movement,
Sandile Road, which leads towards the Langa Station, has also been changed from a two-way to a one-way road to enhance pedestrian safety and the movement of buses, taxis and private vehicles,
the existing informal trading spaces have also been upgraded to improve the business environment for the informal traders,
a wall of art has been created by local artists to acknowledge the history of Langa and to celebrate its future,
new public seating and lighting have been installed and a new asphalted public parking area adjacent to Brinton Street has been constructed

Text and image credits: The City of Cape Town

R1.7 million track for Langa and Bridgetown/Bonteheuwel

Langa’s new recreational feature is officially pumping with riders

Published by Sarah du Toit on December 18, 2022

This weekend, the City of Cape Town’s Recreation and Parks Department officially opened the new Langa pump track to riders.

Also read: Bicycles are taking Langa by storm, one Cloudy Delivery at a time

Construction on the pump track, which is situated on the border between the Langa and Bridgetown/Bonteheuwel areas, started at the end of March last year.

A pump track is a planned route of asphalt berms and turns that includes a looped series of rollers and berms for bike riders.

Riders enjoy the new pump track. Picture: City of Cape Town

“The track is a hub of activity for a variety of wheeled vehicles, including bicycles, skateboards, scooters, and more. The R1.7 million track has been designed in such a way that international pump track events can be held there,” said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Patricia van der Ross.

The ground is layered with a French drainage system, a recycled milling layer, and finished with a layer of specialised asphalt surfacing.

Luthando James shows off his skill. Picture: City of Cape Town

This year (2022-23), a ward allocation of R500 000 will be used for the construction of an entrance pathway, an extension of hard surfacing around the track, and an avenue of large trees.

The specialist pump track contractor significantly reduced their costs; large savings resulted from the use of recycled milling material and the reduced cost of trees supplied by the Newlands Nursery.

“The track is an opportunity for the Recreation and Parks Department to promote cycling in a safe space within the community and create fun and exciting experiences, especially for the youth. Road cycling already exists in Langa, and the pump track will also focus on BMX biking,” said Councillor Van der Ross.

Other areas that have a pump track include the Princess Vlei Eco Centre.

“Investing in sports and recreation facilities is important as it exposes young people to healthy activities and different types of sport. It’s also an investment in the community, as it provides a space for leisure. In addition, bicycling creates entrepreneurial opportunities for organisations and small businesses associated with the sport,” added Councillor Van der Ross.

Rules regarding the use of the track are displayed at the facility, and safety gear is a requirement.

Emmanuel Kostile and Afikile Noholoza intend to make full use of the new pump track in Langa. Picture: City of Cape Town

Fixed bicycle parking is not available at the facility at this stage, and an assessment regarding this will be done once the track is operational to determine the need.

The Recreation and Parks Department will purchase a limited number of bicycles for use on the track and partner with the Langa Bicycle Hub organisation based at the facility to assist with Learn-To-Cycle programmes.

LANGA DEVELOPMENT

CAPE TOWN TO SPEND R320M ON HOSTEL TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME

May 24,2019

N2 Gateway Housing Project | The Housing Development Agency

Photo By HDA

The City of Cape Town on Thursday said that it will be moving forward with plans to upgrade more hostel units in Langa as part of the next phase of the hostel transformation programme, which will cost R320-million.

The next phase of the programme, which is set to start in 2020, will see the construction of an estimated 660 new apartments.

The city’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi said roughly R250-million has been spent on the programme and thus far 463 new apartments have been built.

“It is early days, although much work has gone into the preparation for the next phases of the programme already. The majority of the hostels are situated in Langa,” Booi said.

“The City hopes to have a panel of consultants in place by August 2019 to do planning for all the hostel areas within Cape Town. This panel will look at Nyanga, Langa, Gugulethu Section 2 and Gugulethu Section 3 and develop a holistic plan for all of these areas.”

Booi said the city will need all affected parties and stakeholders to work with it and to act in a manner that is to the benefit of as many beneficiaries as possible.

“We need to follow a systematic approach as we cannot do all of the areas at the same time. The City will do everything in its power to ensure that all processes are completed as soon as possible,” Booi said.

“Good community cooperation will be the most vital ingredient as we go forward to bring redress to those families who were broken up, torn apart and stripped of their dignity and humanity by the apartheid government.”

Based on a survey done in 2010, the city used an objective model to determine the priorities for the programme. https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/cape-town-to-spend-r320m-on-next-phase-of-hostel-transformation-programme-2019-05-23/rep_id:4136

Thursday, 22 December 2022

LANGA - COME SEE

A tour of Cape Town's Langa township

Max Anderson

Before my 11-day guided tour of southern Africa, I'm emailed with a list of tour options in Cape Town. Which one would I like to do?

There's an afternoon of wine-tasting among the villas of Stellenbosch. There's a Harley Davidson tour of Cape Town, including Camps Bay beach where the models hang out. And there's a two-hour walking tour of a black township.

I hesitate over fine wines, fast motorbikes and models on beaches, before ticking the box marked 'Township'.

Langa township is 10 kilometres from the five-star hotels of Victoria and Alfred Wharf, and a million miles from the stuff that makes Cape Town one of the world's most beautiful cities. It's flat, a little bigger than Sydney's Centennial Parklands, and home to 80,000 people (the population of Launceston). It's bounded by a railway line, a busy freeway and a garbage transfer station.

Our small group of seven is greeted in the centre of Langa by resident Chippa Mngangwa. A friendly, open-faced chap with a ready smile, Chippa thanks us for visiting and tells us how to greet locals in the Xhosa language ('Mollo'). But his next statement sets me back a little.

"The people you meet during your holiday in Cape Town – all the security guards, the waiters, the maids – they live here, in a township. Each day they travel to your hotels and restaurants and earn between 250 to 300 Euros [A$400 to $485] a month. They work to survive."

Over decades of travelling in South Africa I've met lots of security guards, waiters and maids at hotels and restaurants. I try to make conversation, though the gulf between us is hard to bridge. And it suddenly strikes me: I've never got past polite chit-chat because I've never thought about their lives on a deeper level.

Our two-hour walk begins at some parklands where the grass and gum trees are wearied from Cape Town's drought. People with lots of time and nowhere to be walk with a languid gate. Cars occasionally rumble past, thudding with bass and driven by young men.

"Sixty per cent of South Africa lives in a township," says Chippa, "and only 50 per cent of those have jobs. Townships are hunting grounds for politicians. If you persuade 60 per cent of the population to vote for you, that will see you into power, perhaps even into the top job. But when politicians get power, they forget about townships."

Langa is one of the oldest of Cape Town's 13 townships, started in the 1920s as a camp for male dockworkers who it was feared would spread plague. It officially became a township under the Group Areas Act of 1948 – a pillar of Apartheid that ensured non-white Africans lived away from their workplaces, away from urban centres and far from white suburbs. Even today there is only one road in and one road out of Langa, a design legacy that ensured townships could be locked down.

Chippa talks as we walk. "Like any community, Langa has social stratification. We have areas of lower class and we have our own 'Beverley Hills'." We emerge into 'Beverly Hills', a street with bungalows of pale brick and kempt gardens. Blocks of medium density units are being built close by, with two-bedders starting at $30,000.

But around the corner, the urban scenery changes dramatically.

Upon entering a neighbourhood of shipping containers, clouds of small children blow up to Chippa. He dispenses high fives and hugs, before leading us to the door of one of the containers. The steel box is divided by a flimsy wall to create two 2mx3m dwellings. Four of us squeeze in: it contains a single mattress, a wooden seat, a fridge and an electric cooktop (a saucepan of boiling cabbage makes a familiar and glum smell). Chippa points to each in turn: "Bedroom, lounge, kitchen," he says. "This is home to six people. A mother and her five children live in here."

The mother sits outside while we inspect her dwelling. She tells me how her five children sleep on a mattress on the floor. "I have lived here since 2005." she says. "Twelve years."

One of our group puzzles for a moment. "Fourteen years," he says.

She looks up with wide eyes. "Fourteen?!" she breathes, shocked. "Ohhhh, too much."

The community has several schools but only 10 per cent can afford the fees. There's also a hospital and fee-paying clinics (many dedicated to sexual health). And a lot of churches.

As the mother re-occupies her shipping container, Chippa tells us that women run this community, driving the economy by selling stuff they make, grow and prepare. We cross into a rough quarter of shanties made from corrugated iron and black plastic sheeting. Two women are surrounded by stacks of recycled building timber which they use to make toxic-smelling fires: one woman singes all the hair from grinning sheeps' heads while the other uses plastic Steel-o to scrub the heads squeaky clean. It's a delicacy.

More remarkable are Langa's 'micro-breweries'. A wonky line of rotten shacks sit with orange drums outside. These drums are filled with beer fermented from sorghum, maize powder and water.

We duck into one of the cramped, dark spaces where an older "mama" silently goes about her work, tending half a dozen older men squatting on benches. They're friendly, but slightly stupefied from hours of consuming the 2.5 per cent brew she serves in 5-litre tins.

"This is called a shebeen," says Chippa, now sitting before a five-litre tin of his own. "These were illegal, and women who couldn't get work as maids stayed in the townships and made beer."

The tin costs A$4 and is passed around for us to try. The first taste is of the metal – followed by the sour, room-temperature beer which smacks of smoke. "These women don't get the credit they deserve," he says as the dusty wind makes the plastic sheets crackle. "Selling beer to the community means some are able to send their kids to school."

I feel perfectly safe in the township, but Chippa says it's different after dark. "The community is very peaceful in the daytime. But we go from being the best community by day to the worst at night."

In 2014 Langa accounted for 55 per cent of murders in Cape Town. With only one police station, vigilante groups are left to mete out their own law. "Community justice is much more feared," says Chippa. "It's more like social control."

If townships are a modern construct, ancient African traditions survive. Young men reaching 18 are sent out into the bush for six weeks prior to ritual circumcision. "The pain of life will be nothing to the pain being experienced," says Chippa with the wry grin of a man who has been through it. Dowry is also a big part of matrimony and while bride price is no longer paid in cows, weddings come with stratospheric costs and many young couples are saddled with horrendous debt.

At the end of the tour we repair to Langa's community arts hub, the Guga S'thebe Arts & Culture Centre. where local artists and artisans are given the means to produce their work. I buy a colourful hand-painted mug – and then return to the Cape Town that I know.

I seek out the beautiful sixth-storey bar in The Silo hotel, a stellar industrial/boho space. Perched on a barstool upholstered with topaz-coloured leather, I place my hands on the cold stone bartop and feel slightly spun out.

Barman Pule Selogilwe pours me a chilled Cape Brewing Co. Beer and asks me what I've been doing with my day.

"I've been in a township," I say.

He's taken aback. "A township?" he says. "Which one?"

I tell him and it's like a door opens.

He tells me the name of his township, it's not so far from Langa. "I've taken all my white friends there," he says. "They get to sit in a shebeen, listen to an uncle telling a few stories… Did you visit a shebeen?"

The conversation quickly becomes one of mutuality and connection. We talk about the problems of townships, the changes, the lack of change. Then his shift behind the bar ends. "It's cool you visited," he says, shaking my hand. "It's important. If you've not been to a township, you've not been to half of South Africa."

TRIP NOTES

Max Anderson was a guest of Scenic

traveller.com.au/south-africa

siviwetours.com/

TOUR

Siviwe Tours offer 2.5 hour tours of Langa with local guides. Costs $55 a person, including transfers from Cape Town.

The tour of Langa township is offered as part of an 11-day five-star overland tour of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, with Scenic. Costs $11,195 a person. Visit scenic.com.au/tours/southern-africa-discovery/8229

OK-RITE: LANGA & SURROUNDS STUFF

The other side of Cape Town

The Cape Town area is famous for beaches, wine tours and Table Mountain. But township tours might also be an interesting side trip for soccer fans heading to South Africa for the World Cup.

Image: Travel Trip WCup Township Tourism

Tourist are seen at a curio shop in the township of Langa situated on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. Nardus Engelbrecht / AP

May 11, 2010, 10:53 PM CAT / Source: The Associated Press

By Thandisizwe Mgudlwa

The Cape Town area is famous for beaches, wine tours and Table Mountain, among other attractions. But on a recent morning, a group of tourists set out to experience something most visitors never see — the townships where black and mixed-race South Africans were warehoused under apartheid.

"We want to show them the other side of Cape Town with this township tour," said Samantha Mtinini from Camissa Travel & Marketing. The tours take visitors to homes, schools and markets in three townships where they meet children, vendors and other residents.

The tour does not sugarcoat reality: Mtinini says the townships remain impoverished and beset by crime. But the company advertises the tours as a way to create jobs, as well as a way for visitors to experience the humanity and culture of the people who live there.

The tours might also make an interesting side trip for soccer fans heading to South Africa for the World Cup, which kicks off June 11.

First of three stops on the tour was Langa, a black township where the visitors were greeted by preschool kids singing a welcome in Xhosa and English.

Langa is an area of shacks, schools, religious, sports and recreational and cultural buildings. Traditional healers also do business here, claiming to be able to cure just about everything, and to clear evil spirits from homes and create luck for relationships and business.

"We are born with spirits from ancestors," Major Ndaba of the Langa Herbal Chemist shop told the tourists. "People come to me for all sorts of problems like business success and evil spirits."

Just outside in the Joe Slovo shack settlement, Christopher Wanyoike awaited customers at his arts and crafts stall.

"My crafts are from all over Africa, from Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania among others," he said. He is among an army of Langa entrepreneurs, from fruit and vegetable hawkers, to cooks barbecuing meat al fresco to be served with umqombothi, frothy traditional African beer for about $2 (14 rand) a liter.

Next the tour moved to Bonteheuwel. The sprawling colored, or mixed-race, township was established after the forced removals in 1966 from an area known as District Six. District Six was a pocket of Cape Town where South Africans of different races lived together until the city council forced those who were not white to move far from their jobs and the economic hive of the city center.

Under apartheid, South Africans of mixed-race were more privileged than blacks, part of a divide-and-rule strategy to create tensions that linger to this day. Bonteheuwel, compared to Langa, boasted more sports fields and better schools with libraries and business centers.

Then it was on to Guguletu, another black township. There, tourists saw new shacks built after apartheid ended in 1994, during an influx of settlers from rural to urban areas.

Mtinini said that wherever space is available, people build shacks, including just in front of the Gugulethu Seven monument, which commemorates seven anti-apartheid activists killed by the security police in 1987.

Nearby, another monument commemorates Amy Biehl, an American Fulbright scholar killed in 1993 in Guguletu. Biehl, 26, who was white, was studying how women were contributing to change in South Africa. Her black assailants claimed the attack was part of the war on white rule.

Biehl's attackers were granted amnesty after confessing before South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up to help the country cope with the legacy of apartheid.

Two of her attackers now work for a charity the Biehl family founded that has provided training in arts, sports and other areas to young South Africans.

Africa Biz